


Beca Mitchell and the String of Fate

by Britishgal



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: Cuties, F/F, First Meeting, High School AU, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-05
Updated: 2018-10-05
Packaged: 2019-07-25 17:41:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16202441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Britishgal/pseuds/Britishgal
Summary: Through a surprising set of circumstances, Beca Mitchell is drawn into Camp Half-blood's library. It's old, it's creepy, and it's in desperate need of a good clean. Safe to say then, that who she definitely isn't expecting to see in there is her long term-crush. Oh gods. Kill her now.





	Beca Mitchell and the String of Fate

#  Beca Mitchell and the String of Fate

###  (One shot)

The Pine tree on the hill remained as green as ever, but all the trees around it had begun to orange. A sign that they were well into term now at Camp Half-blood. The September air still feels warm on Beca’s bare arms and face however, a sign of summer’s reluctance to concede its swiftly slipping grasp. The feeling was mutual. Beca found the yearly darkening of the world a particularly difficult time. She wasn’t sure whether or not this had to do with her parentage, but if it were, Apollo could go fuck himself. He was responsible for enough of the distress in Beca’s life already.

Beca’s just begun her third year at Camp Half-Blood, and the 15-year-old could proudly say that she had finally started to hit her stride in the place. She has her permanent friends now, and has had her fighting and survival skills honed-to-a-tee with the help of her world-renowned mentors. She actually felt more confident that ever about not-dying out in the wider world, which was the primary aim of Half-blood in a way, so kudos to Olympus etc. on yet another pointless success story. (They couldn’t all be a Hercules, not every child of the gods was bound to some death-or-glory prophecy.) Not that Beca at all wanted that. Beca didn’t want any of this really. All she wanted to do, for Olympus’s sake, was to make music. No, it wasn’t quite that simple. Beca wanted to make _good_ music. If major success resulted from that awesome, but Beca just wanted enough freedom to experiment with what she wanted, how she wanted. Preferably making enough money along the way to not starve. That would be good too.

She considers beating her head against the aged wall, as she waits outside the linguistics Cabin for Jesse, alone. She’s like a flea ridden old dog waiting for her master, like… what was that sappy film Jesse had made her watch? Grey-friar’s Bobby? Internally she chastises herself. Relying on someone else so much makes her feel so stupid. But Jesse was one of the reasons Beca actually enjoyed this place, her exasperating half-brother was perhaps the greatest gift Apollo had accidentally given her. She settles instead for picking at the cabin’s flaking brown paint, and hopes no one is paying her enough mind to tell her off. From inside, she hears the scrapping of metal on wood, as a dozen or so campers get ready to leave for lunch. Her eyes flicker up in hope to the blue front door and through the glass pane, Beca spots Jesse at the head of the fleeing troop. Of course, he was the most eager of them to leave. She supposed a dislike of formal education was a family trait of theirs too. He spots her, and beams as he waves. It’s a stupid gesture to make, when he was only 5 meters or so away.

“We ready to go?”

He cheerfully asks once outside.

“I’ve only been waiting for you for the past hour and a half or so-” Beca complains.

“I told you not to take ceramics, it’s a duff subject. And early morning lessons should be a no-go for someone like you, you don’t go to bed until maybe 3am. Besides-” He lowers his voice. “-everyone knows Kada is useless.”

Beca thwacks him hard in the side. It’s partially for being a bit rude, but also because she can get away with it.

“Yeah well, the problem is I have no interest in Politiks either! At sign-up it was like choosing between spending an eternity in Tartarus, or being thrown into the Styx head-first.”

“ _Tad_ of a dramatic comparison there Beca.”

“Whatever Swanson. Just hurry-up and walk with me okay? I’m hungry.”

Jesse laughs.

“You’re always hungry.”

“Um- says the guy who always steals my fries.”

“But they’re always _spiced_ so good.”

Beca had to admit that this was undeniably true.

“Just order your own, dickwad!”

“But then you wouldn’t get access to my Mama’s Bolognese.”

“Are you blackmailing me for access to your food?”

The two bicker like this the length of the entire camp, trading fast quips and flinging insults back and forth with little regard for anyone else around them. In other words, it was a Tuesday lunch like any other. Part of a comfortable routine the two developed some time ago now, and were reluctant to edit. You know what they say, if it ain’t broke…

They make it all the way to the outside of the cafeteria when Beca feels her phone vibrating in her back pocket. She pulls it out upside down, with an irritated look on her face, and flip it to its correct orientation.

“-And in conclusion that’s why I’d make a great Head Councillor for Apollo.”

“Uh-huh.” Beca hums, truthfully too busy opening Amy’s text to take much notice of Jesse’s campaign speech.

“Beca?” Jesse repeats, but he knows she isn’t listening.

“Yeah?” Beca responds, eyes still glued to the screen.

“I’d also like you to be my running-mate.”

“Hmn yeah, sure thing.”

He knows she isn’t listening still, but devilishly smiles to himself at the revelation. Jesse was totally holding her to that later.

“Earth-to-Beca!” He tries yelling this time, which makes the smaller girl nearly jump out of her skin. A sure-fire way to grab Beca’s attention was to slightly embarrass her. Beca’s face reddens as she realizes she’s been caught.

“Sorry. I just had to reply to this, it’s pretty important.” She murmurs, fingers quickly back to typing on the screen.

Jesse’s brow knit together.

 “What is it?”

Beca just sighs.

“It’s Amy, she needs me to swing by the Big House and help her out with something.”

Jesse sighs back resignedly.

“Beca, you shouldn’t be helping her with her punishment.”

Beca shakes her head. “It will take her years to clean that place alone, and we might never see her at lunch again if I don’t.”

And as much as Beca cared for her half-brother, the two of them sitting alone at their table for the entire week would probably get pretty dull, pretty quickly. Not to mention that to anyone watching them they’d look pathetically tragic. Beca’s plea is interrupted by the sound of her own stomach growling. Crap she was so hungry. Her stomach adds on an extra and especially loud groan for good measure, as if to emphasize her point. This time it’s even loud enough for Jesse to notice, but being the gentleman he is, Jesse doesn’t voice a related comment. Instead her refers back to the more important points of their conversation.

“Beca, you did not burn down Dionysus’s cucumber patch. Fat Amy did.”

“I know but-”

“You weren’t even there! Besides, Dio is Amy’s dad. Do you really want to interfere with his plans and risk being turned into a grapevine?”

Beca plasters on her most sarcastic of smiles.

“But Mr. D loves me!”

Plus, he hadn’t turned anyone into a plant in the past two decades, which boded quite well for her, _should_ she make him mad. That factor was an unlikely hypothetical though, right?

Jesse shakes his head, face souring. He can tell already that his pleas are falling on deaf ears, and that Beca intends to go, no matter how much he insists on otherwise.

“I’ll see if I can grab you some fruit then.”

Or whatever other obscure thing he could smuggle out of the cafeteria unnoticed.

“And see if you can nab me a chocolate bar too?” Beca asks.

“I’ll meet you half-way at a cereal bar.”

Jesse had to make sure his best friend was getting the fibre she needed. Plus, chocolate bars were 30 cents more expensive from the vending machine, and Jesse wasn’t made of money.

“Deal!” Beca calls back already sprinting off the Big House.

Jesse just sighs. The combo of Beca and Fat Amy Hobart together never ended in anything good. Amy Hobart was a disaster magnet, and Beca Mitchell an innocent iron screw.

Beca enters The Big House only to find it deserted, which is unusual considering how full of staff it usually was. The Big House was home to many of the important facilities at Camp, the Oracle of Delphi, the Infirmary, the Reception, the Staff Room, and the place where she was headed: The Library. Not the best used of the facilities at the camp, but it was a good place to get some peace and quiet, and an even better one for making out with your selected love interest. If you didn’t mind the cobwebs and general creepy-vibe the place gave off.

Beca was unsure whether Half-Blood had ever had an official librarian. If they ever had, they were certainly a hoarder, because the Library was seriously overstuffed. Like there were books, EVERYWHERE. Stacks of the ancient leather-bound things, piled up wherever there was room. Yeesh, no wonder Dionisius thought it would be punishment to re-organise the place. Beca picks up two of the books at random, and finds with horror that despite them being stacked one on the other, both are thickly coated in dust. She blows on the crackled leather, and sputters through the dust clouds that shoot up and into her face. She desperately fights against the urge to loudly sneeze. Fortunately for her, Beca wins that one. The books happen to be “How to Train your Pegasus” and “The 10 Wonders of the Underworld”. Beca frowns. Not even close to being filed alphabetically. She re-stacks the books with reluctance. Amy had some serious work ahead of her.

Speaking of, where was the child of Dio? Amy had told her that she was already in here, and yet the place was deathly silent. Strange, Amy was usually so obnoxiously loud that she couldn’t be kept quiet for more than five minutes. …Something wasn’t adding up. Beca creeps through the towering aisles, frowning at the labyrinthian style of the place. Seriously, she half expected to run into a 1000-year-old Theseus in here. Failing that, maybe she’d find a couple of skeletons belonging to some missing campers. Beca smirks at that. Chiron would hail her as a hero, and the celebratory campfire would be great.

From the Labyrinthian entrance, the Library suddenly opens up, and Beca finds herself in an actually fairly decent looking study space. Within it, are nestled five oak tables, surrounded each with five polished hard-wood chairs. All sit lavish and unused. …How had Beca not been in here before? She temporarily taken with the potential for a hide-away when she spots her. Oh god. Beca can only just about see the ginger curls behind the stacks of books on her table, but that is undeniably her crush. Chloe Beale, whom Beca’s never actually managed to speak to before. Beca’s lived here three whole years and she’s never spoken to her. What a coward she is.

Her mind starts to race as Beca considers what to do. Maybe leave before Chloe spots her? That seemed like the best plan. Continuing to live without the ginger even knowing she was alive sounded perfect. Innocence was bliss, and besides Beca was awkward and clumsy and- that when she turns and knocks over a pile of books.

_“Fuck.”_

Beca cusses, resisting the urge to scream at the pain of her stubbed toe. Fuck. Shit. Fuck. Hnggg! Pain like this was so damn awkward to cope with. She can’t help it. Beca hops around a bit to try and reduce the effects of the adrenalin now coursing through her. _Nope_ , the urge to primally yell was still there, she needed to keep going! Gods, this was embarrassing. It’s someway through her twelfth hop, when Beca’s heart suddenly plummets, and she realizes just who she’s looked like a complete fool in front of. _Shit_. Beca immediately freezes. She slowly turns around, and sure enough Chloe Beale is staring directly at her, with an amused smile on her face and her eyes twinkling all blue and prettily. _Oh no._ Without a doubt now, it could be certain, that Chloe Beale had been made aware of Beca Michell’s existence. Beca’s heart drills through her body and buries itself 6ft into the ground. This was not how Beca had wanted their first introduction to go, she was _such_ an idiot. Uh-huh, yep! Because seeing Beca stumble awkwardly over a huge pile of books that looked super-duper important was totally going to make Chloe fall head over heels for her! Beca wants to frustratedly scream at herself. Beca betted Chloe loved books, this was probably a serious faux pas that she’d committed already. Her crush-stupefied brain starts to panic. She should leave, she should go, like right now, take the back route! Run all the way back to Jesse and tell him just how badly she’d fucked up interacting with Chloe for the first time. All their predictions about how her first conversation with Beale would go had been bad, but none discussed had remotely resembled this level of awful. How could they even have imagined any of this? Beca is crumbling at an uncontrollable rate and can’t seem to stop herself. At least Jesse’d know how to cheer her up.

Beca should just pretend she hadn’t noticed her-

“Hi!”

Chloe gently waves.

_OH-MY-GODS CHLOE BEALE JUST SPOKE TO HER!_

Shit.

“Hi.” Beca answers timidly.

She feels her heart flipping in her chest, performing a routine that would actually make Simone Biles feel mild shame. She’s actually seeing the older girl up close. Be cool Mitchell, calm the fuck down.

“You’re Beca right? Beca Mitchell? Apollo’s daughter?”

“That would one-hundred percent correct, ten points to Gryffindor!”

Beca awkwardly finger guns, which, she regrets almost instantly. God that was embarrassing, she needs to put her hands down. Oh god her life was over. She could never walk by Aphrodite cabin ever again without feeling anything but mortifying embarrassment. That’s what she thinks at least, until the red head actually giggles. She has the most disarmingly beautiful smile.

“Chloe Beale.” The ginger sticks out a friendly hand. “Daughter of Aphrodite.”

Beca walks forward to where she’s sitting to shake it.

“I know.” Shit. “Sorry, I- that came out a little stalkery. I promise you, I’m not like, a creep or anything, I just um, saw you battle as Captain for the first-time last week and it was pretty impressive.”

Chloe lets out a beautiful laugh.

“Not too much of a let-down I hope?” Her eyes are stupidly twinkly and blue.

“No! Gods, no. I thought you were great!”

She laughs again. Beca likes it.

“Really? You do know we _lost_ Capture-the-flag, right?”

“Well, yeah, but your spear moves, you took down like… three people, and you defended Em with your shield-”

“Who?”

“I- the first year, who you saved from getting demolished by Bumper?”

“Oh yeah! Yeah.” Chloe looks a little embarrassed. “A sweet kid. I really should get to know all the first year’s names… I normally know them all by now, but questing prep has sort of gotten in the way this year.”

She genuinely looks ashamed that she doesn’t know. Beca is becoming more and more smitten with this girl by the second. _Somebody_ _help!_

“Wait, you’re going questing?” Beca asks amazed.

“Yeah. That’s sorta why I’m here, actually. The oracle gave me my first prophecy six months ago and told me to come back now. I’m supposed to be meeting Dionysus but-”

“But he’s never around.” Beca finishes for her.

Chloe gives Beca a knowing and solemn nod. It’s so adorable and genuine that Beca feels like her heart might burst at any moment.

“Exactly.”

They’re silent for a couple of seconds. Both stupidly uncertain of what to say to the other. It’s so stupid. Being a teenager was so hard. Figuring out love for the first time was hard. Why didn’t they have classes in flirting instead of pointless things like mathematics? Flirting, now THAT was an important life skill. Much more practical than advanced trigonometry…

“So Beca Mitchell, why are you here?” Chloe prompts.

“Uh, Amy.” She answers.

“Daughter of Dion himself? You two are like, best friends or something right?”

“Well, yeah, I guess- she’s more like a-”

“Sister?”

Beca was going to say annoying leach, but yeah sister worked too.

“We were gonna go through our Greek homework together.” Beca mumbles, apparently feeling the need to lie about her true reasons for being here. Beca was unsure that admitting to aiding the process of burning down a cucumber patch was something that would score well with Chloe Beale. Chloe was all sunshine and rainbows, was the ginger girl even capable of deviance? Who knew? But in defence of herself, if Beca had known that Amy was going to have used her spray deodorant to make a flamethrower, she would _not_ have leant it to her.

“Oh, that’s cool! Where you at with it?”

“It’s nothing, its just some advanced stuff I’m struggling with. I know like, with our dyslexia, it’s supposed to unjumble itself and things. But sometimes it doesn’t for me, for some reason. So-”

More lies. What the hell was she playing at?

“Well… if you’d like, maybe I could help? I’m pretty good at languages. Daughter of a romantic and all.” she gives Beca a playful wink.

Beca tries to suppress how hard she’s blushing.

“Wait really? You would- you have the time for that?”  

“Sure! I’ll just get Aubrey to cover any training combat training sessions I have with the younger years. It’s not as if she’ll turn me down, that girl loves organizing a good tournament.”

Aubrey Posen, a.k.a. the head-councilor of Ares Cabin: absolutely _terrifying_ to observe on the battlefield. It never quite made sense to Beca why Chloe hung around with her so much, or how a daughter of Ares had been adopted into Chloe’s Aphrodite clique of Florencia Fuentes, and Stacie Conrad. Now that she thought about it, Aphrodite cabin were a pretty diverse lot, there was CR, the daughter of Isis, and Jessica and Ashley… though she could never remember who their parents were? Maybe Hypnos for Ashley? Or was Beca thinking of Jessica?

She watches blankly as Chloe gathers up her things, clearly the older girl had had enough of waiting around. Beca couldn’t really blame her.

“I- yeah. That would be really cool.” Beca nods.

“Great! And Beca?”

“Yeah?”

Beca watches on dumbly as Chloe pulls her leather satchel onto her shoulder. Then, the ginger looks her up and down once, before she shyly bites her lip.

“I think you look really good in that t-shirt.”

Beca feels her face burn even brighter, and as she looks down she smiles. It was just the regular camp orange one. Beca laughs to herself. The red-head gave her ONE (probably platonic) compliment and here she was beaming like an idiot. She gives the ginger a small but friendly wave as she leaves, completely and utterly overwhelmed. And all of a sudden, Beca has a pretty strong feeling that this year was going to be _great._  Cleaning up a bunch of old books seemed to her like no problem at all.

**Author's Note:**

> I noticed I'd written more Super-corp stories than ones for my all-time fave ship. That had to be fixed immediately... If you liked it anyhow, lemme know, It's much appreciated.  
> Britishgal.  
> oxoxo


End file.
